Calvin p



(No Model.)

0. I. DARNELL. WIRE FENCE LQGKAND STRBTCHER.

Pa't ented Nov. 15, 1887.

' UNITED STATES 'ATENT amen.

CALVIN F. DARNELL, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

WIRE-FENCE LOCK AND STRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters'Patent No. 373,392, dated November 15, 1887.

I Application filed May 22, 1886. Serial No. 202,994. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CALVIN F. DARNELL, a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Fence- Wire Locks and Stretchers, a description of which is set forth in the following specification, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in the several figures of which like letters indicate like parts.

My invention relates to the construction of devices for stretching fence-wires and locking the samein position when tightened, and will be understood from the following description.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents afront view of a panel of the fence embodying the ordinary form of my device. Fig. 2 is a side view of a post with the devices for tightening and locking the wire secured'thereto. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the lock,showing the arrangement of parts. Fig. 4 is an end view of the same. Fig. 5 is a view of the bolt when removed from the collar. Fig. 6 is a top view of the collar,showing its upper end. Fig. 7 is a bottom view of the same, showing the lower end with its corrugations. Fig. Sis a view of the lower. arm of the frame,showing the corrugations formedon the top thereof, corresponding with the corrugations on the lower end of the collar. Fig. 9 is a side view of a post with a spacer inserted therein and cross-section of the fence-wires in place in the spacer. Fig. 10 is an end view of the spacer, showing the wires in place and a key driven above to secure them. Fig. 11 is a top View of an arm extending from the post (which is shown in cross-section) for the purpose of fastening the wire-locks thereto. view of the same.

In detail, 1) is the fence-post, made of pipeiron connected with a base which is let into the ground. I

s is the frame-work of the stretcher and lock, and is made of metal in the form of a yoke, with an opening in the back portion to receive a bolt, N, which passes through the post and is secured on the other side by a nut, as shown in Fig. 2. The arms of this stretcher-frame Fig. 12 is a side .have openings to admit the bolt-,which has 0ft sets above and below, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, the central part of the bolt being squared and formed to enter a square opening in the collar 0. Between the upper end of this collar and the arm of the stretcher is a rubber gasket, 2*, and a smaller gasket is placed on top under a washer, immediately beneath the head of the bolt b. The lower end of the collar 0 has projections or corrugations, as shown in Fig. 7, which fit into corresponding corrugations upon the upper side of the lower arm of the stretcher-frame or bracket 8, as shown in Figs. 4 and 8. A nut, a, working upon the threaded lower end of the bolt 2), binds the parts firmly together.

The collarc has asmallknob orhead screwed into its side to hold the wire while being wound around the said collar. When the stretcher has been firmly bolted to the post p, as shown in Fig. 2, and the end of the wire has been secured to the knob b by means of a wrench applied to the squared upper end of the bolt 1), the latter may be turned in its bearings in the arms of the stretcherframe and the wire wound up around the collar 0, which cannot slip back because the bolt 1) is squared where it fits into such collar, as above described. It, when wound up',agreat strain is brought upon the wire, the notches or corrugations in the end of the collar will slip over corresponding corrugations upon the top of the arm below, (these corrugations being made of easy inclination, so as to allow such movement before the wire will break,) and thus it maybe unwound suificiently to relieve the tension on the wire, and it will slip no farther than is sufficient to relieve such tension, inasmuch as the corrugations upon the collar and upon the arm below will under ordinary pressure or tension of the wire prevent the same from slipping. The rubber gaskets 1", being made of elastic material, will be compressed, and thus enable the corrugations of the collar and of the arm below it to slip by one another.

Sometimes it is desirable to extend a line of wire on the inside of the fence and some distance therefrom to prevent the cattle from ru nning upon the barbed-wire of which the fence is composed, and for this purpose I provide an arm, a, whichis screwed into a union. or T socket connected-with the post, and upon this arm, which extends inside the fence to any suitable distance, the stretcher-frame is securedin the same manner as it is to a post,

and the inside wire, which is represented in Fig. 11 by w", may be secured to the stretcher in the Same manner as to those upon the post. I also provide a spacer which is made in the shape shown in Fig. 9, having one short arm which abuts against the side of the post and one long arm which passes through a hole in the post, and is secured by a nut working upon its threaded end. The fence wires pass through and rest in the guide thus formed between the upper and lower arms of the spacer h, and may be secured therein in any suitable n1an11eras, for instance, by a key, 7;, driven in above the wires,as shown in Fig. 10. I thus provide locks and stretchcrs upon the corner-posts and locks and spacers upon the intermediate posts and an arm for sustaining an inside wire, and these all combine to make a substantial, durable. and compact fence.

The stretcher may be secured to the fencepost by means of a bolt, as shown in the drawings, or in any other suitable manner, as I do not intend to limit myself to the precise form herein shown of fastening the stretcher to the post, as an ordinary mechanic could suggest various devices which would be equivalent to the bolt and accomplish the same result.

\Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

The stretcher 3, formed in the shape ofa yoke, its lower arm provided with corrugations on top, adapted to engage similar corrugations formed on the end of the collar 0, in combination with such collar having a squared opening to admit the bolt I), such bolt,the rubbcr gaskets r, and the knob b, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand this 18th day of Hay, 1886.

CALVIN F. D ARNELL.

\Vitnesses:

O. P. JACOBS, HATTIE MURRY. 

